Super Smash Brothers: New Moon Rising
by Calamity Heart
Summary: While cleaning the basement of the Smash Mansion, Princess Peach happens upon a certain book she never thought she'd see again. The words she reads from it calls forth something terrible... When Smashers start disappearing, and mist chokes the air, can the day be saved? Or will the Smashers and the Mansion descend into eternal night? For lyokolife6's Horror Story Contest!
1. Down in the Basement

**(A/N: Hey, guys! This is just a little side project I decided to pick up for lyokolife6's Horror Story Contest! An opportunity to flex my horror-writing muscles, hopefully. n_n**

**Onward!)**

In the Smash Mansion, center of Master Hand's ingenious Multiverse, home and headquarters for the most powerful living beings in all of space and time,- when they weren't busy defending their homes from evil, of course - shining beacon and symbol of strength and justice...there was a chore for just about everyone. Such an establishment wasn't perfectly kempt all day every day. You thought the Smashers just either fought each other or sat around all hours? Ha! Every day, there's always at least a few people keeping the Mansion in peak condition, each with their own assigned duty.

Who other than Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom could organize such a timely, convenient, and near-perfectly acceptable system of work? The blue-eyed blonde monarch loved the respect she was shown by even those who came from entirely different worlds, where her power was meaningless to them. In truth, most of the Smashers were downright afraid of the Princess. Why she allowed herself to be captured constantly in her world when she was perfectly capable of thoroughly curb-stomping the vast majority of Bowser's Koopa Troop was a mystery, but the fact remains that Peach was very unpleasant when angered. Of course, she was _completely _unaware of the power that she had over the others. Yes, _completely _unaware. Hm.

That said, Peach had pretty much all of the Smashers under her thumb when it came down to housework, and her work schedule was spotless except for one chore: dusting the basement. _No one _liked dusting the basement. Ironically, Peach herself, the humble matron saint of cleanliness, detested the idea of going into the bowels of the Mansion more than any other Smasher, primarily because it was the only place in the Mansion that they feared more than her. Of course, she was _unaware _that she even instilled fear into the hearts of her peers to begin with. _Completely unaware... _Digressions aside, the reason many Smashers feared the basement was because Crazy Hand liked to collect the _creepiest_ old junk imaginable from the heros' universes. Most of what he collected happened to bring back really bad memories for the Smashers. One enemy they all knew they could never defeat was their own mind. There were just certain things that make a person freeze solid, defenseless in his moment of terror. And it pissed Peach off.

To remedy this, Peach devised a method that was rather crude and uncompromisal for the regal blonde: drawing straws every week. She did have a condition. If the loser was willing to fight against Peach in a one-to-one Brawl and _defeat _her, Peach would take over their basement duty. Because Peach was _completely _unaware that everyone was afraid of her, she was surprised that every week, the loser would deny her challenge and reluctantly go down to the basement. However, this week was different. Samus Aran drew the shortest straw and accepted Peach's challenge. Needless to say, _everyone_ wanted to watch two of the most beautiful women in the Mansion fight. And fight they did. And Samus _won_.

Peach's defeat sent shockwaves through the Smasher population. No one could believe it, not even Samus, even though she didn't show her surprise, and only nodded respectfully to the beaten Princess. Which brings us to the present evening. A scowled mars the normally bright and beautiful face of the Mushroom Princess as she pushes open the basement door and lets the heavy creaking sound scratch her ears. The smell and taste of mildewed air already molests her senses, and she can only see the first few steps down. The rest of the basement is utter darkness. Armed only with a feather-duster and a box of moist rags, Peach is content for some moments to just stare at the gaping maw of the inanimate beast that was unanimously despised by all Smashers before taking the first step down, the dark wooden stairs creaking ominously underneath her weight.

Before she even enters the basement, Peach finds first-hand reasons to utterly despise this chore. She had to change out of her gown so it wouldn't get super-dirty and give Luigi, the appointed laundryman, more work than he needs. Peach was instead wearing a casual pair of long pink pants and a pink-and-white striped sweatshirt (in the summer, mind you), along with a pair of less-than-pristine pink tennis shoes whose soles were scuffed from use. Her hair was pulled up into a very high ponytail, and under her roommate Zelda's insistence, she left her crown on her nightstand so she wouldn't risk losing it in the dark disgustingness of the basement. Peach disliked pants and tennis shoes outside of sporting endeavors. She wasn't particularly fond of long sleeves, either. However, the Mushroom Princess felt naked without her crown. She could _be_ naked, still have her crown on, and feel perfectly decent and casual, but give her a full set of clothes that covered every bit of skin, then take away her crown, and she will be uncomfortable all day. So one can imagine how she must feel now, naked and alone in a dark pit of _ew_. She hasn't even seen the basement fully yet.

Every loud creak of the stairs as she descends tickles her ears and puts her on edge, because they're the _only_ sounds she hears. Creaky steps in a busy, bustling Mansion are fine. Creaky steps in an otherwise silent pit? Weird. Another reason she hates the basement. Silence is _weird. _Irrationality tells her that there's a darker reason why it's silent...As if every little sound brings a sleeping beast closer and closer to waking. Or maybe it has already woken up, and is silently approaching. Coming closer and closer to-

Peach shuts her eyes and shakes the stupid thoughts from her head as her feet touch the cold floor of the basement, drowning her in silence once again. Peach already feels the cold invisible hands groping her spine and making her shiver with discomfort as she reaches the foot of the steps. After a few seconds of stillness to let her eyes adjust to the darkness, Peach reaches over and flicks the nearby light switch. Nothing happens for a moment, but then a lone light bulb high up on the ceiling flickers to life and casts a dirty brown light on the silent chamber. Peach regards the room's dusty old contents with a blink. Just from where she stood, Peach can see why people might be repelled by the basement... Right in front of her is the rusty, eyeless, and inert head of Galleom, one of their greatest adversaries during the Subspace Emissary affair. Already, Peach sympathized with the short-stick drawers who had to come down here. Being reminded of their arduous war with Tabuu is discomforting. She'll have to talk to Crazy Hand about moving all this stuff to another dimension like Final Destination... But for now, she cleans.

Peach figures she might as well start with the robot head, dusting it off and wiping it down before moving on. There is no shortage of creepy objects that Peach encounters in her trek through the grime, unfertilized Metroid eggs, their green veins shriveled and rotting, an odd machine with cracked and foggy glass that contained an odd suit of armor, sleek and streamlined, suspiciously matching the shape of a former Smasher, Mewtwo... After a few minutes, Peach discovers that no one has _really_ cleaned the basement fully at all. Everyone who's been down here has quit and fled after only a few minutes of enduring the weirdness of everything that Crazy Hand hoards... The objects toward the back are infinitely dustier than those closer to the stairs.

Peach sighs, feeling compelled to leave herself. But it isn't in her nature to leave a job unfinished, damned perfectionist that she is... Reluctantly, she continues cleaning, letting minutes pass as her very presence in the basement weirded her out more and more. Every little bump elicits a gasp and at least twenty seconds to look around and confirm she was still alone. A couple of times, Peach gets the impression she heard her own name, and turned around, sweating as she calls out, "Who's there?" It was always just her active imagination. After another several minutes of cleaning and walking, Peach finally comes upon something she finds interesting: masks.

Her eyes light up in wonder as she examines the row of masks hanging from the back wall. Most of them look perfectly preserved, and while some are a bit scarier-looking, particularly the heart-shaped mask with glowing manic orange eyes, they all fascinate her. The masks remind her of happy times in her castle, during one of her many masquerade balls, particularly her most recent, when she invited all the other Smashers to her castle! The thought brings a smile to her painted lips. So distracted was the Princess by the memory of slow-dancing with her mustachioed knight in shining overalls that she does not notice the large spider crawl from the eye hole of one mask until it leaps onto her face.

Peach's screams shatter the silence of the basement as she swipes at her face. Jerking back quickly, Peach's back slams into a pile of random junk, causing stuff to fall and break. The spider falls from Peach's face and is subsequently crushed underneath a large tome that falls from the pile she struck. Peach steps away from the pile of collapsed junk and baubles, waving her hands and coughing at the dust in the air as it clings to her clothes and hair. She was going to have to take a long shower after this... The Princess opens her stinging eyes and looks the book on the floor. When she realizes what it is, she gasps, filling her throat with dust and having to squeeze her eyes shut and cough again. When she opens her eyes, it's still there. The Dark Prognosticus.

Peach swallows hard as she remembers her own experiences revolving around that book which heralded the end of her world in the past... When she had been forced to _marry_ Bowser... She shivers, but at the same time, is drawn to the book... Surely, it contained more prophecies than just the end of the world. This book alone brought down countries, apparently. Her raging curiosity leads her to wonder what kind of power could do that? What else could the book say? Besides... What was the worse that could happen to them? All of the Smashers had saved the world at some point. Even if one of the Prognosticus's evil prophecies concerned one or all of them, it was nothing their combined might couldn't fix, right? Right. Reading from the book might be helpful. She could learn of some world's prophesied destruction, tell the others about it, then work to save that world! They'll be heroes! Well..._bigger _heroes!

Her mind is set. Peach walks up to the Dark Prognosticus and picks it up. But instead of taking it back up to the actual Mansion and reading it in the peace and non-creepiness of her room, Peach is compelled to open the tome right then and there, hungrily eyeing the first page she comes to in the middle and reading.

_" 'Pon midnight's stroke and moonless sky..._

_These words do herald doom..._

_Dur'n mindless reel and darkness cry..._

_Your soul he will consume..."_

Peach is trained in few languages, only knowing common English and the bit of Japanese Ike taught her so she could communicate with Marth. Whatever strange runic language the Dark Prognosticus was inscribed in, Peach certainly would never have encountered it in her life, yet she reads from it as fluently as if it was her first language.

_"His endless hunger will ne'er be sated..._

_His monstrous thirst will ne'er be slaked..._

_The mists of his somnolent breath ne'er abated..._

_To the reader and her companions, t'is already too late..."_

Just then, Peach's pupils dilate and contract once in rapid succession. She draws in a deep breath, as if she'd been being choked just a moment ago, and the book falls from her trembling hands. What just happened to her? What has she done? She backs away from the Dark Prognosticus, horrified at what the evil book had done to her.

_Pssssst..._

At that, she turns and runs, leaving behind her rags and feather duster. Stepping on glass beneath her sneakers, hip-checking random object, and even slashing her bicep against some sharp protrusion, the normally poised Mushroom Princess staggers clumsily through the basement until she gets to the stairs, where she climbs as fast as possible. Something is following her. _Chasing_ her. This is _not _Peach's imagination. She knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that there's something behind her and that if she looked back, it would get her. It would _eat her soul. _When Peach finally escapes into the bright light of the hallway, she slams right into Red, sending them both to the floor in a heap.

"Whoa! Peach, what the?!" Red yelps as Peach pushes him away, springs to her feet, and runs down the hall before turning a corner.

"Peach!" Red calls after her as he picks up his hat. He stares at the open basement door and shivered. "Yeesh... Meh, she probably saw a spider or something."

Red walks toward the basement door and reaches in to pull the door closed. As soon as his hand crosses the threshold into the actual room of the basement, something invisible grabs his wrist and yanks him forward. He screams as his feet come out from under him and he falls head over heels down the steps, grunting and wailing in pain all the way down. When he reaches the foot of the steps, he slams into the floor and rolls for a moment before curling up and groaning in agony. Blood trickles from his lip as he whimpers and starts to crawl slowly toward the steps, whispering, "Help..."

He starts to climb, and doesn't make it up four steps before the same force that grabbed his wrist grabs his ankle and yanks him violently again, dragging him quickly into the basement. His screams pierce the silent basement air, and as he is dragged, the basement door closes on its own. With a loud pop, the lone light bulb shatters and the room is drowned in darkness. Finally, Red's bloodcurdling scream is suddenly cut off... All is silent again. Silent and completely dark except for the faint evening light shining in through the window against the back wall, casting a square spotlight on the Dark Prognosticus. Ever so slowly, a gentle mist creeps into the edges of the square of light, its ghastly tendrils touching the dark prophetic tome. A hand whose skin was grey and whose thin black veins showed clearly under the light reaches for the book, but does not pick it up. The hand, attached to a wrist that was wrapped in a black band much like Red's, gently runs its fingers across the surface of the book cover before retreating back into the darkness.

_Pssssst..._

**(A/N: First of only a few chapters; of course I don't plan on making this very long. Review with your thoughts!)**


	2. A Bad Feeling

**(A/N: Finally realized that doing horror in the imperfect tense just doesn't have the same feel to it like the present tense does. :3 From here on out, the story will be written in the present tense! The last chapter has been revised to reflect this!)**

Peach's strange behavior and Red's strange disappearance did not go unnoticed.

Theories and rumors started spreading pretty quickly. Some, like Red, was sure Peach was just freaked out about something she saw in the basement. It would certainly not be the first time someone fled that damned dungeon before finishing their job. Others, especially those who had actually seen Peach's face as she was running to her room, suspected otherwise. So unusual was the Princess's behavior that it was the topic of discussion until close to 11:50, when Zelda finally decided that the time for talking was over, and that if her roommate needed her, she would be the one to talk her through whatever she experienced.

"Peach?" The Queen of Hyrule asks softly as she taps on the thick door with a gloved hand. "Are you alright? Can I come in?"

No answer. Zelda chews her lip for a moment as she waits, knocking once again before deciding that a little rudeness would be excused by concern for a good friend. Zelda opens the door and looks around the pink-walled suite. The smell of hot water and the thickness of the air strike her first, followed by the hissing sound of shower water and the sight of Peach's shirt and pants thrown haphazardly on the bed, not folded, like she usually does with her clothes when she bathes. There was definitely something the matter. Zelda peers at the open bathroom door, inside of which is Peach, sitting on the floor of the shower in her underwear and clutching her crown to her chest as she lets the heavy beads of shower water strike her head and roll down her body. Zelda frowns at her friend, reaching in and turning off the water before kneeling next to the tub and trying to meet the Princess's eyes.

"Peach, people are worried about you," Zelda says softly. "What happened in the basement? You can tell me; I'm your friend, and I want to help in any way I can…"

Peach's slender throat tightens before she speaks: "Have you ever been possessed, Zelda?"

Surprised at the question, Zelda blinks before gently nodding. "I have. And I'm currently living with the man who possessed me," she says, letting the smallest of scowls cross her face as she remembers how Ganondorf pitted her against Link during the Twilight Realm fiasco. "It feels like going to sleep and having a really bad dream."

Peach shakes her head. "No… No, no! It wasn't like that at all!" she cries, trembling. "I've been possessed three times now! Each time it's felt like my mind was being raped! Like I was watching someone else in my body… I got possessed for a few moments down there, and… it horrified me. W-What took a hold of me… I think i-it made me do something terrible…"

"…To Red?" Zelda asks warily. Peach looks at her weirdly.

"I ran into Red when I was running away from what was trying to eat me… What about him?"

"He's gone, Peach," Zelda says simply, her lips rising into a tight line. "He just upped and vanished, and he didn't take any of his Pokemon with him wherever he went."

And Peach didn't think her blood could get any colder… Her jaw falls open and she stands up in the tub. "He was right in front of the basement… I didn't tell him about the soul-eating monster…"

"…What? Soul-eating what?" Zelda babbles, more confused than ever.

"The book!" Peach wails. "I read a book, the Dark Prognosticus! It summoned… _something,_ and it tried to eat my soul! I-I remember the words… 'Pon midnight's stroke and moonless sk-"

Peach pauses with her tongue still arched on the 'k' sound as she looks out the bathroom window. There's a new moon in the sky, so dark against the shadowy canopy that it almost appeared there was no moon at all…

"… Zelda. What time is it?" asks the frozen Mushroom Princess softly.

The Queen of Hyrule furls her eyebrows warily before stepping out of the bathroom to check the hands of the wall clock. "…11:55. Why?"

Zelda is nearly knocked off her feet and yelps out as a soaking wet, half-naked Princess Peach charges straight past her and bursts out the door, screaming one thing over and over at the top of her lungs:

"_Get out of the Mansion! Get out of the Mansion!"_

**11:56**

In the Mansion's kitchen, Kirby stands whistling a familiar tune to himself as he haphazardly tosses a bunch of random ingredients into a giant steaming pot and occasionally drowning the whole stew in spices. He wears his chef's hat proudly, and is further inspired to do what he thought was a good job by the presence of Jigglypuff, who… is _kind of_ Kirby's girlfriend, assuming Kirby's simple mind can process the idea of a girlfriend like Jigglypuff clearly can, as she watches him cook with a smile and a fuzzy blush under her giant dinner-plate eyes.

A few more questionable additions to the pot later, and then Kirby starts to stare hard at his pot, waiting for something. Jigglypuff blinks, then waddles up beside him, making sure to press her big round body against his as she watches, as well. Moments pass… Suddenly, a large bubble begins to swell on the surface of the stew, watery and thick. It continues to grow until it finally pops with a sparkle of pink dust.

"Tada!" Kirby declares, raising his hands victoriously. Jigglypuff giggles and claps, grinning brightly as Kirby scoops some of the hot stew out of his pot with a spoon, blowing the steam away before happily holding it to a sparkly-eyed Jigglypuff, who closes her eyes and leans her head forward to have a taste of Kirby's concoction.

"_Get out of the Mansion! Get out of the Mansion!"_

Jigglypuff stops short and blinks, turning her head to the kitchen just as a shiny wet bra/panty-clad Princess Peach rockets by, moving about as fast as _any_ Quick Attack. Jigglypuff blinks again, wondering if she just saw what she thought she saw… She rolls out of the kitchen just in time to see Peach turning a corner and disappearing, still screaming. What in Arceus' name..?

Kirby waddles up beside Jigglypuff, still holding his spoon of soup. He gives a confused look in Peach's direction, then turns and offered Jigglypuff the stew again, which she gladly accepts.

**11:57**

"I've never seen Ms. Peach like that, Mr. Mario. It was super-weird," says the young voice of Popo the Ice Climber. He, Link, Lucario, and Mario had set up a makeshift meeting in one of the hallway clearings to discuss Peach. Each of them spotted the Mushroom Princess as she was fleeing the basement.

"It looked to me like she was running away from something…" Link comments. "I actually drew my blade to fight anything that might have made its way into the Mansion and was chasing her, but... there was nothing."

"Hm…" Lucario growls, 'voicing his thoughts', as it were, quite literally, producing an audible echoed voice without moving his lips. "Her aura was disturbed when I sensed her, but I couldn't be sure of what it was that had bothered her."

Mario's hairy lip twitches, his bushy eyebrows furled with concern for his Princess. "Perhaps it was something in the base that may have scared here?" he suggests, his accent as strong as ever. Lucario shakes his head.

"This was… beyond fear." The Pokemon sighs aloud. "I don't know how to describe it, but it was dark. Incredibly dark. If I didn't know any better… I'd say Peach might have had an encounter with a-"

"_Get out of the Mansion! Out! OUT! Get out of the Mansion!"_

The young Ice Climber covers his eyes as the half-naked Peach charges by, screaming at the top of her lungs. The rest of the present Smashers just gawk, unsure of how to respond, or what to do. Several moments pass before Mario finally pushes his chair away as he charges after Princess Peach. Within moments, the other three Smashers are close behind.

**11:58**

With a whir and a flash, Sonic and Samus return from the VBS, the virtual-brawling simulator. Samus was dressed only in her Zero Suit, and Sonic was dressed only in shoes, socks, and a smug grin.

"Bite me, hedgehog. You got lucky." the bounty hunter snorts with a roll of his eyes.

"Ha! Yeah, right!" Sonic laughs. "I knew you beating Peach was a fluke, Sammy! There's only one little girl I know who even has a chance of going head-to-head with Princess Peach and winning without fluking it."

"Sonic, we know Amy's got you whipped; you don't have to keep reminding everyone," chuckles Ness from his spot next to R.O.B at the VBS control panel. Samus also snickers at this, but Sonic rolls his eyes.

"Please… I'm not whipped; I'm _definitely_ in control of our rel- Wait. Wait! No, Amy and I aren't together, dammit!" Sonic denies indignantly, much to the amusement of Ness and Samus. All laughter stops immediately as her screams finally reach their ears.

"_Get out of the Mansion! Get out of the Mansion!"_

Samus walks over to the simulation room door and opens it up just in time for Peach to slam her toe into the bottom of the opening door and screech as she trips and tumbles, clutching her foot.

"Oh, shit…" Samus swears, walking up to Peach and stopping suddenly as she realized the Princess was only in her underwear. "Peach, are you okay…? Why are you undressed?"

Peach doesn't answer, and only groans as she fights to her feet and starts to hobble on her injured foot toward the foyer, still wailing for people to get out of the Mansion. Sonic and Ness watch as well, silently, until Ness finally breaks the silence.

"Wow, she's hot."

**11:59**

Not much farther… Not much farther… Not much farther…

Peach is sure her left big toe is jammed. The pain almost takes her breath away. Almost.

"_G- Aah..! Get out of… of the Mansion!"_

This she cries with hot tears welling in her eyes as she finally reaches the foyer. Screaming in pain with each step down the stairs, she is determined to make it out, even as the pain gets worse and worse with each step. Peach feels she might black out at any moment as she finally hits the home stretch, reaching the ground level and staring at the Mansion's front doors, several yards in front of her. Tears mix with shower water as they drip from her face, and a twisted smile of relief comes to her face as she is finally able to reach out her hand to twist the handle and escape the Mansion. She is far too manic to worry about the other and whether or not they heeded her warning…

**12:00**

_BONG!_

Nanoseconds before Peach's fingers touch the door, there is a _click!_ as the door locked itself. Peach's eyes widen and she screams at the top of her lungs.

_BONG!_

Fans stop working. The simulator shuts down. TVs blank out. _Every_ single light in the house is turned off all on its own, leaving the whole inside of the Mansion choked by darkness. Peach screams again.

_BONG!_

At once, the eyes of every single Smasher still asleep in the Mansion snap open. Bowser, Lucas, King DeDeDe, Ganondorf, Yoshi, Snake, Fox, and others… All of them open their eyes, but not a single one of them wakes up. From nowhere, an airy mist begins to fill their rooms…

_BONG!_

The basement door. Everything is silent. Zelda lights her way down the hallway past the door with a spark of Din's Fire in her hands, searching for Peach, who she lost the trail of not long after she left... Her feet are wreathed in mist… The entire floor seems to have been replaced by a misty carpet… Zelda stops as she hears a short creaking sound.

_Pssssst…_

Zelda turns her head to the basement door, which is now opened a crack. In the crack of the door, a wide brown eye stares right at Zelda, and Zelda stares right at the wide brown eye. The stare is held for several silent second before the basement door swings open and, quicker than a flash, a wide-eyed, ashen-skinned, black-veined Red reaches out and brutally grabs Zelda by the hair, yanking her off her feet and into the basement. Zelda screeches louder than she ever has as the basement door slams shut and her muffled screams and cries barely make it through the door.

"No! No, please!"

Suddenly, Zelda's screaming stops. Moment pass. The basement door opens slightly with another creak, and Zelda's frosty blue eye stares through the crack out into the hallway.

_BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG!_

Peach trembles against the door as other Smashers start to enter the foyer. Mario immediately rushes up and kneels beside her, joined quickly by everybody else she passed on her way to her attempted escape.

"Princess…" Mario says softly to her. "Princess, what… what's going-"

"I found the Dark Prognosticus… I read something, and I think it summoned a monster…" Peach blubbers. Her lips tremble as she repeats the prophecy that has, and will forever be, burned into her memory.

"'Pon midnight's stroke and moonless sky… these words do herald doom… Dur'n mindless reel and darkness cry… your soul he will consume…"

Not a word is spoken for a long moment. Peach sniffles and speaks again, lifting her puffy red eyes.

"I'm such a stupid person, a-and I'm so sorry… I-I killed Red, a-and now I'm going to kill all of you guys, too…"


	3. Rising From The Mist

**(A/N: For those who haven't quite figured it out yet, NMR is partially inspired by The Evil Dead, one of the best horror movies I've ever read the synopsis to. XD.)**

"What do you mean _you_ killed Red?" Lucario asks, his brow creasing. The Aura Pokemon's voice seems particularly louder than usual in the total silence of the night-drowned Mansion. "No one dies in this world, Peach; dire injuries turn us into trophies, remember?"

Peach tucks her knees to her chest and shakes her head. "Master Hand's reality only applies to injuries of the body. The prophecies clearly stated that this monster _eats souls! _I don't want to find out if having your soul eaten will turn you into a trophy, too..."

Lucario's eyes squint. "Where is Master Hand anyway? Is he even in the Mansion right now?"

Popo nods his head. "I saw Mr. Hand go into the Final Door a couple of hours ago."

"So he's in Final Destination!" Peach cries, standing up. "We have to find him! We have to get him to teleport us out of the Mansion before the Souleater kills us all! O-Or get him to kill it for us!"

Lucario snorts, then turns and starts to walk toward one of the hallways that branches off from the foyer, the one that leads toward the basement. "I have a feeling we're not going to need Master Hand to defeat this 'Souleater'... I'm going to go and handle this myself. Some of you go the bedroom wing and wake the rest of the Smashers. Tell them we're in Code Green and that everyone should be here in the foyer. Find Peach's room and get her some clothes while you're up there."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..." Ness protests, walking up to Lucario. "What makes you think you can handle some supernatural soul eater by yourself? I've seen enough scary movies to know that anything that's done should be done all together. Let's _all_ go to the bedroom wing and watch each other's backs as we find the others, then we'll handle this Souleater later."

Mario shakes his head. "All of us walking in one big glob slowly through the bedroom wing? Not happening. This _is_ a Code Green. High alert; possible active internal disaster. Our first priority is to _quickly _make sure everyone is safe. Not to go be a hero." Here, Mario looks at Lucario. "Or drag a huge clump around while others might be alone and in danger." A glance to Ness.

"Fine," Lucario grumbles. "You're the leader, plumber. Lead."

Mario let's experienced eyes fall over the ten other Smashers in the room, and moments pass in silence, broken only by a soft creaking coming from somewhere above. "...Lucario and Link, you're with me. The three of us are going to search the ground floor for any late-night wanderers. Sonic, Jigglypuff, Popo, Peach. You four sweep the bedroom wing, wake everyone quickly, and bring them back here. Ness, Kirby, R.O.B, Samus. Check on the generator under the steps in the basement. Repair any damage that might have been caused and get these lights back on. All of us should move fast... Clear?"

Upon hearing who they're grouped with, the Smashers start to collect into their three groups. Jigglypuff whimpers as she's separated from Kirby, but otherwise, there's no complaint about the group placement. Mario nods, looking up along with everyone else as the low creaking sounds again, louder and continuous, seeming to come from every direction, as if the Mansion itself quakes with the horror of what has infested it. No one moves until the creaking stops.

"Alright, now-"

Mario is cut off by the sound of glass breaking and a girl's shrill scream shattering the silence.

"_Nana!_" Popo yells, running toward where the sound came from with his group following. Kirby starts to follow as well, but Mario stops him.

"We can't let any more time go by! Stick to your missions and go! _Go!_"

Popo and his group quickly climb the central staircase and disappear into one of the hallways. Mario, Lucario, and Link sprint down one of the dark hallways beside the main staircase, leaving Samus and her group left standing in the dark foyer.

"Lights on, R.O.B." Samus says. Immediately, R.O.B's eyes begin to glow brightly, aiming at the hallway that led to the basement. Samus squints. Pouring gently out of said hallway is a light creeping mist. Samus frowns and unclips her blaster from her ankle, aiming it forward as she gestures for her team to follow. With R.O.B in the lead guiding them, Samus prepared to defend them, and Kirby and Ness shuffling forward uncomfortably, the nervous wreck that they are, the group of four starts to head down the hall towards the basement. Surely, whatever lurking 'Souleater' won't be able to endure four Smashers at once... Right?

The screaming started up again moments after, and Popo picked up the speed while Sonic kept behind him, clearly not running his fastest. Jigglypuff had to start using a constant Rollout in order to keep up, and the athletic Princess Peach had no issue bringing up the rear as she bit her lip in wide-eyed concern. The screaming is quickly accompanied by more glass breaking.

"Mr. Sonic!" Popo shouts. "It's coming from the kitchen! Save my sister!"

Sonic nods and immediately speeds up, zipping like a bullet down the hall and turning to zoom down another, approaching the kitchen. Nana screeches again, and Sonic's yelp is also heard.

"Whoa! Nana, what on Mobius are you doing?!"

Confused, the three other Smashers pick up the pace, turning the corner to see Sonic dodge a plate, which shatters against the wall. The other three Smashers join Sonic in staring into the kitchen. Peach and Jigglypuff gasp with wide eyes, and Popo's blood goes cold. The kitchen is filled with low-hanging mist that clings to the floor and countertops. Standing on top of one of the counters is Nana, her eyes wide and diluted, her very lightly tanned skin ashen and cold grey, and her veins visible on her neck and hands, thin and jet black. She wore nightclothes instead of the pink snowsuit and metal cleats she's so often seen in, and her hands are completely red with blood. Nana screams at the top of her lungs as she grabs plates from the hanging cupboards and flinging them at the walls, floor, ceiling, and those standing at the doorway.

"Sis! Stop it!" Popo screams, running forward before anyone can stop him.

"Popo!" Peach shrieks in protest. "Don't get close! I think she's-"

Before Peach can finish her thought, Nana leaps from the counter and tackles Popo as he's running toward her. The two Ice Climbers stagger back and slam into Kirby's pot in the center of the room, and Popo screams just as loud as Nana as his back and legs, protected by nightclothes rather than his heavy snowsuit, is pressed against the still-scalding metal surface of Kirby's cooking pot. The pot tips, and boiling stew spills to the floor, much to Jigglypuff's dismay.

"Back, back!" Peach calls, pulling Peach and Jigglypuff away from the growing pool of steaming stew on the floor. "Popo!"

Popo's eyes are teary and his teeth grit in agony as he weakly tries to fight off his twin sister, who is still screaming in his face. Finally, Nana grabs Popo's jaw and digs her teeth into the top of his head. Popo starts to scream, but stops quickly, his jaw hanging open and his pupils dilating as his sister, quite frankly, _sucks on his skull._

Popo stays on his feet for only a moment before collapsing forward, face-down on the misty floor of the kitchen. Nana continues to suckle his head for a moment before finally detaching and coughing out some hair. There is a red ring of irritated flesh where Nana's teeth dug into him. Her mouth looks full of something...

"We can't stay!" Sonic says, pulling Peach and Jigglypuff back the way they came. "We gotta wake up the others and get'em to the foyer!"

As they disappear down the previous corner, Nana stays put, staring at nothing with her wide, empty eyes. Suddenly, she bends over and vomits what she had in her mouth onto the floor: smoky ashen mist that was much like that which had already invaded the room, only darker. Nana stares at the dark cloud until it stirs and rises as... Popo. The male Ice Climber's actual body still lies prone on the floor, utterly motionless. What rises is a greyscale black-veined clone of Popo, which screams into the air along with his sister.


	4. Kill Bite

The basement door is wide open.

For some time, the four Smashers just stand and stare down into the foggy darkness of the source of this 'possible active internal disaster'. They're quite aware that the basement door being open cannot imply _anything _good. Either something or someone recently entered the basement, which is absurd unless it happens to be the 'Souleater' returning to where it was summoned... Or something or someone like, say, the 'Souleater' has recently left the basement and is stalking the Mansion... Either way, in this circumstance, there's not much room for good news. Samus takes the first step forward, peering down into the darkness. She turns to R.O.B.

"The generator is right under the stairs. Just stay in the doorway and keep your light shining down the steps," she tells the sentient machine, who nods.

Samus nods to Kirby and Ness, and they follow her as she starts down the creaky steps, with R.O.B getting into place right at the doorway. Samus keeps her gun pointed all the way down, and her two teammates crowd behind her. The bounty hunter stops as she reaches the bottom of the steps, where the mist is heavy on the floor, and all is still deathly silent. She waits five seconds before turning and walking along the floor beside the stairs, calling up to R.O.B.

"Point your light downward a little so I can see what kind of damage we may be looking at." The robot immediately complies, and as Samus finally sees the full generator, her eyebrows crease slowly before rising, utterly astounded. "What the...?!"

The first thing Samus sees when the light shines on the generator is the Shine Sprite symbol painted on it. She is confused at first, because it appears that some moron had painted it upside-down. After a few seconds, she finally looks at the whole generator and discovers that _the whole thing_ is upside-down. To make the sight more astounding, something has been scrawled in ugly black handwriting above the Shine Sprite symbol. A single word, plus an emoticon.

**OOPS :)**

"What kinda..." Ness whispers, as utterly flabbergasted as Samus is. Before anyone can even come close to an answer, the sound of loud banging in the thick silence assaults their ears as R.O.B falls down the stairs. The light they had been using swings wildly all over the place before finally blacking out completely as R.O.B smashes into the misty floor of the basement. The sudden total darkness disorients Samus, and Kirby handles it worse than she does, starting to scream in a panic, his voice wavering as if he's thrashing around.

"R.O.B!" Samus screams angrily. "What the hell hap-"

_Pssssst..._

Before Samus knows what's going on, a force slams into her from above and throws her to the ground. Instinct kicks in, and without thinking, the bounty uses her momentum from the fall to roll backward in an attempt to flip their position so that Samus has her attacker pinned. It works, and as Samus sits on the chest of the attacker and struggles to break an armlock so she can fully hold him down, hell breaks loose around her. Kirby's screams suddenly sound softer, as if he's being pulled away somewhere, then the screams stop altogether. Ness has moved over to help Samus restrain whatever is attacking her, and when they finally succeed in holding down his arms, Samus's eyes adjust to the darkness and she sees the person's ashen blank-stared face.

"Snake?"

Ness suddenly screams out loudly as something grabs him from behind and bites his head through his signature red cap. Samus sees Red's manic face out of the corner of her eye. He yanks Ness away into the darkness, and moments later, Ness also falls silent. Samus is alone. She releases Snake's arms and springs up to her feet and away from him before he can grab her again. She reaches down and retrieves her blaster from the floor near her feet, then shoots Snake in the face. The blaster is set to concuss, and knocks Snake back with a powerful impact. Samus starts to back up, but feels Red's cold hands grab her shoulder. She tilts her head just in time to avoid having Red's teeth sink into her skull, and they bite down into the soft flesh of her exposed neck instead.

Samus swears loudly as a strange pain rockets through her. It is not the pain of someone's teeth in her neck. To Samus, it feels as if something is assaulting her very spirit. She reaches back and grabs Red by the shirt before throwing him over her shoulder and slamming him into the floor before shooting him in the chest with a concussive blast. His body jumps and the floor cracks underneath him, but Red looks otherwise unharmed, and even starts to get up with Snake.

Samus doesn't waste any more time. She turns and runs for the steps, but is blocked by greyscale versions of Ness and Kirby. The actual Ness's body is facedown in the mist... Samus thinks quickly, leaping up and grabbing an overhead pipe. The lithe bounty hunter swings on the bar like a gymnast before leaping from it and twirling in the air, landing solidly on her feet behind Ness and Kirby. She aims her blaster at them and fires two more concussive shots which send the small Smashers flying toward Red and Snake. Samus then starts to run up the stairs, wanting to scream at the supernatural agony roaring down her neck, spreading slowly to her right arm. Her shooting arm. Dammit.

Samus expects the door to close on her any moment and trap her in the darkness with the four damned souls below, and is a little surprised when it never happens. Samus is allowed by whatever force that has infiltrated the Mansion to leave and start to run down the hall. Without really thinking about it, Samus flees back to the foyer and toward where Mario, Lucario, and Link went off to.

"Code Red!" Samus yells, finally able to scream from the ghastly pain filling her spirit. "Code Red! _Gaaah, Code Red!_"

**(A/N: I know these chapters are short and that with the way I want to plot to head, I could have finished the story in four or five chapters, but I want there to be a total of seven for a reason. :3 Check out the titles of the chapters for a clue why! You'll understand by the time it's done!)**


End file.
